The nature of consciousness remains deeply mysterious and profoundly important, with existential, medical and spiritual implication. We know what it is like to be conscious – to have awareness, a conscious ‘mind’, but who, or what, are ‘we’ who know such things? How is the subjective nature of phenomenal experience – our ‘inner life’ - to be explained in scientific terms? What consciousness actually is, and how it comes about remain unknown. The general assumption in modern science...

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Center for CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES

THE SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Since 1994

The Center for Consciousness Studies (CCS) at the University of Arizona was established in 1997 by the Arizona Board of Regents. CCS is hosted by the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

The Science of Consciousness, formerly known as "Toward a Science of Consciousness", is the largest and longest-running interdisciplinary conference emphasizing broad and rigorous approaches to the study of conscious awareness probing fundamental questions related to conscious experience. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, meditation and altered states, machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology and contemplative approaches. Toward a Science of Consciousness (TSC) is presented by the Center for Consciousness Studies (CCS) at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Ariz. (even-numbered years, from 1994 including 1999 Quantum Mind in Flagstaff and 2003 Quantum Mind in Tucson and various locations around the world (odd-numbered years) in cooperation with partner organizations and institutions.

The Tucson Conference

The Biennial Tucson Conference TSC-Toward a Science of Consciousness Held annually since 1994, the conference is organized by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and various locations around the world. An estimated 700-800 scientists, philosophers, psychologists, experientialists, artists and students from over 60+ countries are due to take part.